Windows 8.1 formats like a mobile app

Many of the programs that I have installed on my new Lenovo Yoga laptop appear long and thin in tiny type, as though formatted for a mobile phone. It's maddening. I've scoured other forums looking for some solution. I've found a couple where people groused about it, but no one seems to know how to fix it. Do any of you have any clues?
My guess is that somehow, deep in the settings, a switch has been flipped that makes the computer function in something like "mobile mode," and I don't know how to get to it or find it to switch it back.

Hi Joe,
I'm not sure of the distinction you are making between Metro and desktop programs. Do you mean do I access them from the desktop or from the Metro overlay?
This might get at what you are asking: I think all of them are programs I had on my previous computer and downloaded and reinstalled on this one, like, say, Dashlane (a program that creates and saves passwords for you) and others.
It also happens to a good many of the web-based emails I receive on MS Outlook. Online news and newsletters arrive in tiny print and very thin, as though they were intended for a mobile device.
And, yes, I've tried to increase the size by using the CTRL + mouse, but it has no effect. And that wouldn't change the narrowness, in any case.
Any more thoughts?
Stan

Actually, there seems to be two issues here. The first is that several programs are running extremely small, almost impossible to read. The second is that a lot of programs (mainly online newsletters in my emails) are not only small, but very narrow, as though formatted for a mobile device. I've checked with a number of forums, and apparently the second problem is fairly common.

The first pic below is of one of my programs (Advanced System Care) shrunken so small that I can barely use it. (I took the shot against THIS page, so you can get the perspective of how small it is. It usually takes up most of the page.) The second is of a notice from my pension program about an upcoming webinar that seems formatted for mobile phones.

I should add (because many people have asked already) that I can't make them larger by Ctrl-scrolling. They aren't responsive to that.

Based on the screen shots you posted, I think that your new laptop has a very high resolution (3200x1800) and that is playing havoc with what you are seeing. In the first screen shot, IE looks fine because it apparently is handling the higher resolution properly and adjusting its display accordingly. But the Advanced System Care utility is not doing this so you are get its full window size, but since your screen has such a high resolution, the end result is a really small window with hard-to-read text. In the second screen shot, the email you are showing is apparently formatted using HTML with a hard-coded width set in pixels. And again, due to the screen resolution, what would take up most of the screen width on an older monitor takes up only a fraction of your screen width. The text is readable probably because your email settings magnify the text automatically (due to the screen resolution) but the text is stuck within the "box" dictate by the HTML email. I feel your pain, my 13" Vaio has a full DH screen (1920x1080) and some apps have really hard-to-read text or menus and some HTML emails (and web sites) with hard pixel widths look terrible. Unfortunately, this is one of the drawback with having a really high resolutuon monitor. One thing you could try is setting the screen to a lower resolution. You might also try adjusting the screen font size, but unless apps are written correctly, their text will still require a magifying glass.

I tried that, cafed00d. I went to the link you recommended and changed the resolution size, and it changed on programs that had not shrunk down (Outlook, for example), but not not those that were small before. It did, as you suggested, make the screen less clear and crisp, and more fuzzy, but it didn't have any effect on the programs I mentioned earlier that come up with microscopic print. It isn't a whole computer problem, it just touches certain programs.

The other problem--of many newsletter emails arriving seemingly formatted for a mobile phone--is apparently a different issue. The messages don't come with tiny text, just with the very narrow columns. I may have to post that problem to a different audience to keep it separate. Does anyone know how to reformat Outlook to force incoming emails to take up the entire reading pane? That may be where I need to start thinking on this second problem.